Meet Scality Team Member: Géraldine Courtois

Scality’s leaders have created Le Club in order to recognize and reward team members selected each year for their exceptional contribution to the company.

Together with this acknowledgment, Le Club members are also offered the opportunity of taking a trip together, to rest and enjoy the Scality spirit outside the workplace.

For the year 2016, 16 employees have been chosen. Scality will publish a portrait of different team member once a week.

GÉRALDINE COURTOIS

A Fighter with a Big Heart

42 years old – Works at Scality Paris

Géraldine Courtois, Regional Sales Manager at Scality

Before the interview started, Géraldine Courtois lets me know in advance : “I’ve only got 30 minutes, after that I must dash to another appointment.” As sales manager at Scality, she is always in a hurry. Everyday she runs from appointments visiting her clients to trade fairs, from business dinners to yet another meeting. Despite the constant pressure, Géraldine is nevertheless very kind, always ready to lend a helping hand and has a smile for everyone on all occasions. “Géraldine always gives you her attention or has a kind word for her coworkers, confides one of the team. It’s a pleasure to work with her.”

The personality of this mother of three children goes against all the cliches you could imagine when you think of a sales person who is typically never available and can be quite self absorbed. “What I appreciate above all in my job is the contact I have with other people, she adds. I love being close to my clients, to take them by the hand and to show them that I’m there to answer the least question.”

Géraldine has cultivated the gift of being a people person to perfection. “When she is trying to make a deal with a company to convince them to buy our product, Géraldine never misses an opportunity to make herself known to all concerned, until everybody is talking about Scality”, confides one of her colleagues. This quality allowed Géraldine to very quickly prove herself in the company. In less than one year in her post, she managed to secure several important contracts, notably with the Natixis bank, the SNCF and the Mairie de Paris.

This sales manager, age 42, who graduated from the Montpellier Business School and De Montfort University, in England, doesn’t just owe her success to her people skills. Behind her kindness lies a strong personality born from endurance and tenacity. “The constant challenge of having to bring in new clients can seem intimidating at first, she explains. But if we put all our energy into making it happen, we can win.” A fighter, Géraldine never counts how many hours she works in order to achieve her objective. “Sometimes I can get a text message very late in the evening asking me to clarify one of the client’s details that she has to meet the next day,” reveals one of her peers.

This persistence touches another one of Géraldine great passions, that of running. This pastime has taken her to participate in some of the greatest competitions, notably the Paris and New-York marathons. “It’s more than just the rivalry with the other runners that motivates me in this sport,” she says. “It’s the desire to excel personally. If we train regularly and follow the program that we have established, we can reach the finish line. It’s exactly the same in my job.”

When she has finally finished running at work or at play, Géraldine likes to go back to her roots, her childhood. As a farmers daughter, she regularly goes back to the family home. “It’s a joy to go there and give them a hand and to get my kids involved,” she recounts. Géraldine never misses an opportunity to make people happy.
Story by Julien Bourdet
Photo credit: Frank Roesner